DG was originally the German branch of the Gramophone Company, Victor's british affiliate. After WW1, DG seperated itself from the Gramophone Co. but retained the Nipper trademark for use in Germany until the late 1940s. RCA purchased Victor in 1929. Victor had previously owned half of the Gramophone Co. The Gramophone Co. and the British Columbia Graphophone Co. merged in 1931, forming EMI. RCA continued to own half of EMI until the mid 1930s. EMI and RCA Victor continued to distribute each others recordings in their respective countries until the late 1950s, after EMI bought Capitol records.
BMG owned half of RCA Records at the time of the GE/RCA takeover. GE immediately sold the other half to BMG.
CD from the second Living Stereo box. Includes Carnival Overture, The Bartered Bride Overture by Smetana and Schwanda-Polka and Fugue by Weinberger.
Listening to "Echoes of Jeanne d'Arc" performed by Schola Discantus directed by Kevin Moll on Lyrichord. Reginaldus Liebert - Missa de Beata Virgine
Posted this in the other Classical Corner thread (along with some rambling about Chopin interpreters), figured I would post this here in case people don't read the other thread- I've added Backhaus' mono cycle to my reference list of complete cycles. Simply stunning, worthy of an avatar change I don't think it quite reaches the heights of Annie Fischer who plays them with a burning intensity but I very easily think this is a second or third favorite.
It did split opinions this version, me I like how direct it is and anything with Montserrat Figueras will do for me.
First listen to CD 23 from "RCA Living Stereo Vol. 1". Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Van Cliburn with the Symphony of the Air led by Kiril Kondrashin. Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No 3 performed by Van Cliburn with the Chicago Symphony led by Walter Hendl.
I find Backhaus' playing archaic, but I must admit that I also find it intriguing, he paints a kind of "sound image" (don't know how to describe it better); I've never heard Beethoven interpreted this way.
After having acquired 4 Van Cliburn recordings, I stopped getting more as I feel his recordings do not do anything for me. Does the RCA box have a good number of his recordings?
Although the composer has been the subject of much debate and research, regardless of who actually wrote them, they are excellent pieces, and the sound is exemplary. The downside is that the foam padding (remember those thin sheets used for padding) and turned to dust and covered both of the LPs and the interior with a layer of rubbery dust! I complained to the seller, and he gave me a partial refund. (After a thorough cleaning all was well.)
Don't have the contents at hand but I don't think he's over-represented compared to the other artists.
I got some of the decomposed foam that cannot be removed on the label side of some CD's but thankfully the CD's play fine ...